Khaleda’s bail rejected in sedition case

A Narail court has rejected BNP chief Khaleda Zia’s bail in a sedition case that accuses her of making controversial comments on the number of Liberation War martyrs and Bangladesh’s founding father Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.

Narail’s Cognizance Court turned down the bail petition on Tuesday.

Raihan Faruki Imam, a resident of the district’s Noragati thana, filed the case against Khaleda on December 24, 2015.

The court ordered the BNP chief to appear before it in person on August 23, 2016. It then ordered the former prime minister’s arrest after she failed to appear before the court.

Case documents reveal that the BNP chairperson had told a rally of freedom fighters in Dhaka on December 21, 2015, that there are controversies over the Liberation War martyrs.

At the same rally, without mentioning Bangabandhu’s name, she claimed that the independence hero did not want liberation but wanted to be the prime minister of Pakistan.